'Spreading awareness': Cricket club to turn pink for important cause

The Warrnambool and District Cricket Association division one club will host Mortlake on Saturday, December 1 at its home ground for Pink Stumps Day as it joins the fight against breast cancer and raises funds for the McGrath Foundation.

Division two and division three teams will then follow suit the next week with matches against West Warrnambool and Dennington.

Tigers division one cricketer Nick Sinnott has long been a driver in the cause, particularly for former club Koroit, and urged the community to get down to Merrivale "wear some pink" and dig deep.

He said breast cancer and cancer in general was a very personal and real fight within his own family.

"It's my way of bringing my own thing to the club," he said.

"I don't like coming to a new club and just being a player, I want to be involved. I think it's my seventh year now playing in it and fifth in a row I've organised.

"It's just a fantastic day. Sporting clubs can at times be male dominant and it brings a lot of females along, like my mum, she's been through cancer as well and she comes down for the day, brings her sisters down and it starts establishing relationships as well.

"There's a few people here who've been through the disease. Mum went through it (kidney cancer), my aunty (breast cancer) went through it too and a few of my mates' mums have as well. Luckily they are still around and fighting on.

"It's such a prominent disease."

Sinnott said division one and division two would host matches at Merrivale while Dennington will host the division three match.

"Originally we were having all three matches at home but Harris Street is unfortunately out of action so Dennington have really come to the party," he said.

"All the players are very much looking forward to getting involved. We'll be decked out in pink with pink hats, grips, laces and we'll have the 'Ladies of the Vale' putting on an arvo tea so we've asked the players to bring a small donation.

"Bill Fary, the curator,will put down the pink lines on the ground and the pink stumps. For the game, we'll have Bill's mother (Dawn) doing the toss this week in div one, she went through the disease, and then we'll also have a member of the club who used to work for the McGrath Foundation for a few years doing the toss for the division two game."

The club is hosting a function at the Victoria Hotel on Saturday night to link with the event.

Sinnott said the community was welcome to come along on the day or donate online.

"It's just about spreading awareness. It'd be fantastic as a league to take it on again, we used to before COVID hit and we'd love to see more clubs doing something," he said.

"For me, that's the ultimate goal. It spreads awareness and keeps us all connected."

To donate to the cause head to pinkisthecolour.com.au/fundraisers/merrivalecricket/pink-stumps-day23.